West of the sacred enclosure and north of the workshop of Pheidias lies the Theokoleon. This was the seat of the theokoloi, the priests of Olympia, but also the residence of the sanctuary staff, which included soothsayers, interpreters, bearers of sacrificial animals, musicians and a woodmonger who provided the wood used in sacrifices.

The original structure dates to the mid-fifth century BC, but was later remodeled and enlarged more than once. It consisted of eight rooms round a central court and covered an area of eighteen metres square. Four of the rooms had access to the court, each through a stoa of two columns in antis. The four rooms occupying the corners of the building opened into these. In the Hellenistic period three more rooms were added on the east side, and a new wing (38.58 x 40.36 metres) consisting of a large peristyle court and many rooms was constructed in Roman times.